Horse races span various distances, from sprints to marathons, and are typically held on race tracks. Horses ridden by jockeys or pulled by sulkies driven by drivers are entered into races; only purebred horses may usually enter.
Racing had long enjoyed its best period since World War II. When pandemic wiped out major sports leagues, horse racing gained new fans who tuned in for cup stacking, cherry pit spitting and old World Series games on TVG (the all-racing channel included with many cable packages). Furthermore, this provided horse racing with access to first-time gamblers.
An increasingly troubling side to horse racing has emerged with an emerging movement led by PETA that exposes abuses such as drug use, abusive training practices, overbreeding and transport to slaughter. Such exposes have led to decreased public support for this industry as revenues, races and entries decrease significantly.
When horses become injured during racing, they must be euthanized immediately to reduce their chance of recovery and save lives. Unfortunately, many horses that become injured do not receive prompt care; almost one-third do not recover fully and those that survive often die shortly afterwards as part of what’s known in the industry as “post-race breakdowns.”
Horses undergo strenuous training for long periods, and must always be ready to compete. This cannot be accomplished without medications that enhance performance – from painkillers and anti-inflammatories, growth hormones, blood doping and doping–with racing officials struggling to keep up with all the ever-evolving arsenal of medications available, racing officials lack testing capabilities to detect violations; penalties for violations vary across jurisdictions with lax penalties when trainers break them.
Before every race, horses are paraded around a starting gate in a walking ring and bettors observe whether their coats appear glossy and vibrant with muscular excitement. If a horse seems fearful or upset about running, bettors take this as an indicator that it may not be ready for competition.
As horses enter a crowded track, they must negotiate hurdles and other obstacles while dodging other runners vying for first place. When the gun goes off, jockeys must quickly adjust to multiple tasks at once: holding reins to guide their horse forward while simultaneously using whip to encourage it to speed up; pushing forward any sulkies or drivers that stand in their path to clear it away; holding reins while guiding forward progress, using whip to encourage speed up; pushing forward any sulkies or drivers that block paths or clear away anything that stands in their path – an accomplished jockey can make all the difference when racing; an incompetent jockey can bring everything crashing to an abrupt halt; even well trained and disciplined horses become unpredictable during close races resulting in numerous accidents occurring due to injuries sustained from racing accidents occurring as result of close races due to various reasons, often ending in serious accidents occurring due to race results being lost as result of misguided jockeying or collapsing an accident occurred due to close races becoming involved resulting in injuries being sustained during horse races occurring due to injuries suffered as result of such competition being injured while racing!